Throughout 2017, Peak will be holding monthly classes to train city analyst in Microsoft Power BI, a business intelligence tool that most city employees have access to for free. Power BI can take in data from many difference sources and can be used to create interactive dashboards and reports that are easy to use and share—without needing to know how to code.

Peak’s course covers best practices in data visualization, so analysts can learn what types of charts and graphs will be best for the data they’re using. The class also goes over several cardinal sins of data presentation to help avoid making “junk charts.” The second half of the course is entirely hands-on using Power BI to build a few sample dashboards. Participants end the class exploring their own data sets using Power BI, with Peak staff available to help troubleshoot the creation of the analyst’s first agency dashboard.

Staff throughout the city are using these dashboards to report progress toward performance goals, run data-driven meetings, prioritize operational workload, communicate with the public, and automate routine reporting.

Peak will be staffing the Denver Data Lab with Mayor’s Data Fellow’s from CCD agencies. If interested in becoming a Mayor’s Data Fellow with the Denver Data Lab, complete the Mayor’s Data Fellow Application.